Views from the Sieve

I thought there would be commentary today?

I looked at the Wealdstone website and BBC Sports on my phone app. Nothing, but also not much missed.

We are no Macclesfield FC it seems.

Really disappointing. It took us well over an hour to pluck up the courage to ask questions of them, in no small part down to tactics which by Bradbury's own admission sought to contain and frustrate rather than take the game to them. When we finally did, we found them to be quite ordinary and we got on top,

Exactly like Hemel last week and the same outcome. Two big games in determining where the season goes, thrown away to passivity.

Clearly the tactics the last couple of games have not worked and need revising as we only have the league to concentrate on now. I’m not sure it is in the managers DNA to play expansive football away from home but with only a very outside chance of getting into the playoffs something needs to change very soon.

Unfortunately our run of unbeaten matches in the build up to Christmas was just the result of a favourable fixture run and Andy Carroll being fit enough to carry the whole team through games. Now we are back to seeing what Lee Bradbury is really about - which is celebrating poor quality football and results as a valiant attempt to be strong. He is a loser through and through.

It’s a shame fans were so easy to be fooled by him after a few wins against the likes of Chippenham & Totton. Ultimately the only “good” team we have beaten is Chelmsford. But even then that was in the midst of what is clearly a huge restructuring of their squad.

len wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:28 am only a very outside chance of getting into the playoffs something needs to change very soon.

I don't know how many games you have been to Len, but there is far more chance of us looking over our shoulder again this season than there is of us looking upwards to the playoffs.

Also NBDag, there was nothing convincing about our win against Chippenham whatsoever, we were lucky to win that against the team bottom of the league and if they had someone who knew how to finish then they would have won that match!

People still mentioning play offs is as delusional as those running the club. The tactics have not worked all season, we’ve been poor for the majority of it and that won’t change anytime soon with the manager in charge.

We really need to pick up some wins in the next couple of months because our run in is horrible against some really good sides, leave it until then and we will well and truly get sucked in to a scrap

The positivity on here ken is well meaning, I'm sure, but there were constant messages at the end of last session telling us we needed to be positive as relegation wasn't coming, when it could be seen by anyone and everyone attending our games... ANY suggestion of playoffs or promotion between now and the end of season is quite possibly ludicrous and so far from reality it boggles the mind when we've watched more than half of season of football now and have our only realistic goal threat in the team out injured.

The entire club is in the doldrums. Nothing will change without a clean slate, and even then it's very likely we'll get the wrong people and continue on this path. It's hard to find good owners and then hire a good football staff and build a proper identity.

Comms are awful and will always be until Thompson goes. He actively dislikes our own fans. He has no desire to build attendances or give anyone an enjoyable match day experience.

We do have a handful of quite capable players but they find it all too easy to have off days, because the entire club mentality is poor and there's no standards. We haven't had a nasty or ruthless streak in an eternity.

Bradbury is an average rather than dreadful manager I think but his natural inclination is to stop the opposition rather than take the game by the scruff of the neck. Partly he's hamstrung by injuries and a pretty pedestrian midfield but he did sign some of them himself.

I'm sick of the whole thing tbh.

steeevooo wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:11 am

len wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:28 am only a very outside chance of getting into the playoffs something needs to change very soon.

I don't know how many games you have been to Len, but there is far more chance of us looking over our shoulder again this season than there is of us looking upwards to the playoffs.

Also NBDag, there was nothing convincing about our win against Chippenham whatsoever, we were lucky to win that against the team bottom of the league and if they had someone who knew how to finish then they would have won that match!

I was merely saying that with more than sixty points still to play for anything could happen and that applies to relegation as well. I have seen all but one of the home games but listened to commentary of the away games but in know way suggesting we would be getting into the playoffs.

We have a poor team, a poor manager and owners who will be bailing out at the end of this season. Regardless of whether we get relegated again I think we will be part time next year and hopefully this mob will be gone and forgotten. We are a laughing stock club now, lurching from one self inflicted embarrassment to another. I would like to see a local businessman come in and take over the whole thing but Steve Thompson will never allow that while he still wants to be in charge so we are not an attractive proposition to anyone who wants to get properly involved. This is why we seem to attract crackpot Americans and Saudi's. These are desperate times but our recent away followings have shown that we are still a pretty big non-league club and one day we will reach our true level again. Just not for a while.